Annual Report 2003

In the following pages of our Annual Report for 2003 we would like to offer insight into our diverse nature protection activities in many corners of the globe and to provide an account of the financing that makes this important work possible. It was the charismatic conservationist Bernhard Grzimek‘s inspiration to designate the head of the powerful gorilla as the symbol of the Frankfurt Zoological Society. We have animal artist Wolfgang Weber to thank for our distinctive and unmistakable logo.

And now it‘s official: The German Patent Office in Munich has registered the gorilla as our trademark; the administrative wheels are still turning at the corresponding EU agency. Under the sign of the gorilla, the Frankfurt Zoological Society is making a crucial contribution to the preservation of the world‘s biological diversity. Our team in Virunga National Park in Congo, for instance, is working to protect the Mountain Gorillas living in the region even as tensions between the central government and rebel forces continue. This is just one place where we are living up to our commitment to promote a harmonious relationship between humans and wildlife.

I would like to express my warmest appreciation to all of you for your extraordinary support of the work of the Frankfurt Zoological Society and the “Help for Threatened Wildlife“ Foundation. I would like to point in particular to the recent gift of the Eleonore Beck Foundation in Munich. I am also very pleased to acknowledge all of our members and friends who this year chose to mark a personal occasion with a donation to the Foundation – they are examples to us all.

On behalf of the Board of the Frankfurt Zoological Society, I would like to thank all of our members, sponsors, supporters and friends as well as all of our partners across the globe for their dedication to protecting the world‘s living treasures.

Gerhard Kittscher
President of the Frankfurt Zoological Society